Oh, I Think So

Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas!

As I prepare to move, I've been getting rid of many things.  Just today I took seven bags of things to  Goodwill.  I have furniture I'd like to give to Goodwill but they don't pick things up, they only take dropoffs.  I am hoping St. Vincent de Paul will send a truck for the stuff I want to give away and if not then I know someone who may be willing to come and get it.  I've held onto stuff that should've been cleaned out years ago.  I should have moved from here years ago but my job was so precarious that I didn't want to move and be put into a deep hole.  However, due to my own improved money mangement and a very good credit rating, I am going to do what someone I worked with many years ago told me when she got her own place.  She said, "I decided to take a chance. " It's also a better idea than renting again in an area with very high rents. I am scared, I am anxious, I am discombobulated, but I have to both look and move forward.  Wish m...

And so it's Christmastime and my birthdaytime!  Because of my move and having to move things and shift things and redistribute things, I don't really want things.  What do I like?  I am like the Rachel Green character on "Friends."  I want credit, gift cards, cash.  (Rachel had a list and if you got something that wasn't on the list, she returned it and got store credit.)  If it's a gift card, please make sure I shop at that store. But I also like experiences but not lavish ones.  If I want a lavish experience, I will save my money for a good while and buy myself a trip to Japan or New Zealand or Iguazu Falls.  What I want are simple experiences that will help me enormously and let us spend time together. For instance, it might involve laundry.  I don't want you to do it for me; I like to do it myself.  If there's a bleach mishap, I've no one but myself to blame.  I will bring my own detergent and Bounce.  I'd love to come ...

We Americans have our weird foods and our good foods and our weird good foods and our good weird foods.  Someone on the internet had the great idea of giving American foods -- Hostess boxed desserts, Southern cooking, traditional Thanksgiving dinner -- to young, Irish people who've never been to America (and probably never wanted to visit America because not everyone likes to travel) and recording their reactions.  They're all well spoken, opinionated, and happy to share said opinions on camera.  As much as Americans might think that our foods are for everyone and that everyone can and will like them, the reality is much different, excluding Thanksgiving.  It turns out that traditional Thanksgiving really is awesome.

In July of this year, my landlady told me she was selling the building I've inhabited for over 17 years.  I have honestly never truly loved this apartment because it's on the first floor and on a corner so I can't leave my windows open to grab fresh air -- it's Chicago after all -- in the few months it's warm enough to enjoy that.  People could climb in, toss things in, even simply feast upon my things and me with just their eyes so it's not at all ideal.  But this place and I established a truce that went like this:  I would live here, it would accommodate me and my things, it wouldn't require too much, and I would run a not-terribly-powerful a/c in the summer.  Unfortunately, I stayed too long at the fair. I have managed to become more stockpiler than hoarder but there is a lot of stuff, knickknack, objets , books.  Personal papers of both of my parents,  personal papers of my own, hobbies acquired and hobbies abandoned before being adequately purs...

Let's all dig deep and think hard and decide that we all have things to be thankful for this holiday season. I am thankful for four brand new episodes of "Gilmore Girls," episodes that will finally end the show the way its creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, wanted it to end.  They'll be available on Netflix starting November 25. I am thankful that my three gum surgeries are over and done with.  Yes, yes, y'all. I am thankful that I will be able to take advantage of 50%-off senior citizen transit rates this year. Starting in December, I get a small pension from a job I had for just seven years.  Thank you! I am thankful I've properly maintained my vehicle these many years.  After 18.5 years, it's still with me and doing well. I am thankful for the followers of my blog.  There are not a lot of you but I appreciate you all.  Thank you. Thank you, my friends and family.  I am a human being with flaws; thanks for accepting all of them. Have a w...

As Dave Chappelle said last night on Saturday Night Live, "I know Whites."  Well, Dave knows them better than me.  And Michael Moore was right.  And the sky fell. Donald Trump is now the President Elect. Hillary conceded with grace (and some tears).  She and Bill wore purple to symbolize the unity of red and blue. She won the popular vote but the electoral college gave it to Trump.  The electoral college, a system whose time has passed. I spent Wednesday being either nauseous or in tears.  I honestly said, "I am worried that I might not ever get over this."  Thursday was better.  On Friday morning I was okay but had to run a quick errand outside of the office at lunchtime -- this happens about thrice a year -- and thought about Trump winning the election and spent the rest of the day feeling nauseous or with tears in my eyes. Trump and Obama met at the White House.  They both looked pissed off.  My coworker said she thought Trump...